But her head was still spinning. After her long nap, sleep wouldn’t come.
It had been confusing enough to love Hammer and want Liam with that rush of undeniable passion. But now to wonder how or if she could stop herself from falling in love with Liam, too... Devoid of answers, she closed her eyes and nuzzled her cheek against him.
Hammer’s passion for her had been a flickering flame, probably snuffed out by the time morning had rolled around. Curiosity satisfied, he’d likely moved on.
But Liam’s devotion to her... He’d taken her from a painful place and showered her with care. He’d demanded to see inside her past and her soul, not because he wanted to decide if he’d be arrested for harboring a minor, like Hammer. Liam had done it purely because he wanted to know. He’d given her ecstasy with no expectation of anything in return. He’d taken the news that she could, even now, be pregnant by Hammer with a steadfastness that blew her away.
He just cared. It wasn’t an act. It wasn’t a trick. Raine had no idea what she’d done to deserve him, but she wasn’t going to continue second-guessing when it only made her crazy.
She’d always assumed love was a grand blaze, an all-consuming conflagration that would burn her soul...like she felt with Hammer. As she’d worked through college Lit, she’d read Shakespeare’s sonnets, never quite understanding one hundred sixteen.
“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,” she whispered in the dark. “Or bends with the remover to remove.” O no! It is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken…
Suddenly, that made sense. Because of Liam.
“But bears it out, even to the edge of doom...”
Raine held him tighter. She had no idea how she’d begun falling so hard and so quickly. Her heart had been seemingly set, then fate had thrown her a curveball. And she understood now that love wasn’t just wanting, but a steady devotion, no matter what.
As much as Liam had given her, she wanted to give back. But she had nothing to give him except herself.
She brushed her palm down his chest, his ridged abdomen, then traced her fingers back up.
Liam caught her wrist in his grip. “I hear you awake. Are you talking to yourself? You’re thinking too hard.”
Moonlight flooded the room as he gazed down on her, brushed her hair aside, and stroked the tender bud of her nipple so softly that she sighed and pressed herself into his palm.
Liam smiled as he rose over her and covered her with his big body. She clung to his shoulders and trailed her hands down his arms as he leaned in and devoured her mouth.
“I want to make love to you, Raine, not as a Dom, just as a man. But I’ve no wish to hurt you. Are you too sore?”
Everything in her body said yes. She opened her lips to him, sliding her hand between them to grip his shaft and squeeze. “Please…”
He moaned at her acceptance, and she writhed beneath him impatiently. Yes, she was still sore, but the need to be closer to him, drown in their connection, drove her.
Liam didn’t let her rush him. Instead, he buried his face in her neck and nipped at her skin, palming and stroking her body until she mewled and clawed at him like a kitten. His thighs spread her wide as his cock slid through her wetness, teasing along the length of her slit.
“Am I crushing you? Sure you’re not too tender?”
Now he was just toying with her. “You could only hurt me if you stopped.”
He bent and captured her nipple, drawing it into his mouth and sucking as he cupped her breast. Liam seemed to know every sensitive note of her body and he played her well. She felt surrounded, cherished, desired… Nearly every fantasy she’d ever held dear when lying alone in her cold bed had come to life.
Same fantasy…different man.
Some things simply weren’t meant to be, and she had to accept that. Besides, it wasn’t as if she didn’t want Liam, didn’t like everything about him. Just the opposite. Because of that, they’d quickly moved beyond teacher and pupil in the blink of an eye.
“I want to be inside you, lass. You will tell me if I hurt you.” It wasn’t a question, but a gentle command.
“I will...” she promised. “But you won’t.”
Liam grabbed her against his body and took her mouth as if he owned it, as if it was his right to devour every part of her. “Bloody christ, woman, you make me hungry.”
He broke away just long enough to reach his pants on the floor and fish in his pocket for a condom. He rolled it on, then she was on her back again. He pushed his way between her legs and held himself at her wet, clenching opening.